God's Characteristics | The Fullness | Amy Joyner

Discover how to break free from old patterns and live in your true identity as a believer. This powerful teaching on Ephesians 4:17-24 reveals the biblical process of putting off the old self and embracing the new life Christ offers. Learn why so many Christians struggle with transformation and how to overcome the mindsets that keep you stuck in old ways of thinking. Explore practical steps for surrendering every area of your life to God's transforming work, from relationships and career to personal ambitions and daily interactions. Understand the difference between surface-level change and true spiritual transformation that comes from knowing your identity in Christ. This message addresses common struggles with self-worth, forgiveness, church hurt, and living as a victim versus living as God's workmanship. Discover how to replace lies with biblical truth, speak life through your words, and trust God's character in the transformation process. Perfect for believers seeking deeper spiritual growth, those struggling with identity issues, Christians dealing with past hurts, and anyone wanting to experience the freedom that comes from living in their true identity. Topics covered include Christian identity, spiritual transformation, biblical self-worth, overcoming past hurts, surrendering to God, renewing your mind, Christian living, faith and success, unity in the body of Christ, and practical discipleship. Whether you're a new believer or have been walking with Christ for years, this teaching provides essential insights for experiencing the fullness of life God intends for His children.

This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast. Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, Colorado, and our vision is Jesus, abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love. Visit us online at theLookout.church.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

So I get to introduce Amy to you today. Pastor Luke is away, and uh this is a treat for me uh because I guess I'll just say uh I know up close and personal what it what it takes to prepare a message when you're not the regular. Um and it is a labor of love, and Amy has been laboring, uh, and she's about to deliver. No pressure, but we're excited because look, the heart of the heart that goes into the preparation, um it's a voluntary act, and it's an act of service because um she cares deeply about what she's what she wants to share with you and believes deep down in her soul that it's what the Lord wants you to hear. So our prayer, and I and I know this is one thing that you want, Amy, is that um the spirit will flow and that your spirits would be stirred to receive and and welcome what whatever it is the Lord may want to speak. Um I know she sees herself just as a as a vessel of this, but we're all here because we believe in a God, and we believe that he's a God who speaks, and that he speaks because of how intimately he knows us. So that's exciting to me. So, Amy, can you come and I can pray for pray for you? So, Father God, I just thank you for uh the opportunity to assemble here um in freedom and willingly. Every one of us are here voluntarily, Lord, because we love you and we know that you love us. So we welcome you. I pray for uh peace on our hearts that we can set aside all the concerns and anxieties of the day and just rest in your loving kindness to us all together. Bless Amy's words and bless our ears to hear it. In Jesus Christ's name, amen.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Amen. That was good worship. I don't know about you guys, but worship is I've I could have kept going. So for those of you that don't know me, hi I am Amy and um Jesse, thank you for that introduction. It was exactly how I felt. Um we have been in Ephesians four, or sorry, we've been in the book of Ephesians. I'm speaking today from chapter four. So we're right smack in the middle. There's six chapters in this book of the Bible, and I just want to kind of go back through memory lane because it this was written as one letter and really a run-on sentence. So to break it apart can almost um water it down if you're not understanding what has been laid before. So for those that maybe haven't been here, so the first three chapters are is it's Paul speaking. Paul originally um was against the church and he persecuted the church, and then he it says that he had a radical conversion and came to Christ. And so this is Paul on his journey. He's in love with the Lord, and he is writing this letter to the church in this time, and he's and these letters would circulate, and and he's casting vision in the first three chapters, really, a lot of theology, um, vision for how the church should work together. Jesse spoke about, I don't know, four weeks ago, and and he was talking about by the Spirit of God um we're made alive, we we go from death to life. Um there's there's a deep, this in this point I I'm really want us to focus on today. There's a deep call to oneness in uh the first three chapters, oneness with the Father. And then it says in three, I believe, that we as the body of Christ, so that is if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, um, as a body of Christ, we are to make every effort to run with the Lord and for the kingdom in unity, not just with God the Father, but with each other. Ooh, that might be challenging for some of us, maybe. Because a lot of times I'm like, oh Lord, I can I can feel your presence, and then I might share it with somebody around something, and they might go, meh. And you think, man, am I what am I running with the wrong people? And so I want to go back to we're called to oneness with the Father, and as the body of Christ, we're to make every effort for unity. So in chapter four, um, the last half, it's where things get real practical. It's where we put wheels on the car, legs on the body, gas in the tank, the engine is turned on, and it's like the foundation has been laid. We know about Jesus, we know that he's calling us to oneness with him. So now, how do we start to live this out? How do we embody this? Guys, this is huge. So I'm gonna pray again because I want to be one with the Lord as I deliver this. Jesus, you are the potter, you are the author of your church. God, I thank you that you finish what you start. And Lord, where we have missed it as a body, and we have ran with our own ambition, and we have not stepped into oneness filled with the Spirit with you. God, would you forgive us today? Forgive me, God. Forgive us. But God, I thank you for your deep grace. I thank you that you are refining your bride this morning. I thank you that there is nothing that any of us in this room could have done that would separate us from the love of God. So I speak right now in this room. I pray any um walls of chain, anybody who's sitting here and they're they feel like I'm cut off, I'm not seen, anything that holds itself up against the obedience of Christ in our hot hearts, minds, and bodies, I tell it, you must come down in Jesus' name. We are in the house of the Lord, the presence of the Lord is here. I thank you that everything in worship this morning, it's like, Lord, I couldn't, I couldn't have I couldn't have asked you to lay the ground any better. So God, thank you. I thank you that you're doing a good work in all of us and that you are completing it this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, I just love love prayer. Okay. Oh, thank you. That's my girl, Chloe. That's a good girlfriend. Let me tell you. Actually, her mom is my girlfriend, but she's also my friend. It's a very layered relationship. All right. So, are we ready? I'm actually, this the first verse might not be up there, but I felt very strongly that I should um start with this. I'm reading from the NIV. Um, from him, the whole body, joined and held together in every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. That's what Luke spoke about last week. So I tell you this, and I insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the frutality of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned. When you heard about Christ and were taught in him, in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus, you were taught to regard, you were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires. To be made new in the attitudes of your mind. And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. This is the word of the Lord. So what he's talking about in 616, he says, we're to make I'm gonna I'm just gonna reread it. From him, the whole body joined together. We are called to be supporting ligaments, and we're called to grow and build each other up as we each do our own part. That is a beautiful picture. That's a picture that says that there is a place at the table for every single one of you, that no one is overlooked. He says, I insist that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do. He's speaking about identity. Have you ever tried to step into a season of life but forgot to really like it's almost like you rem you forgot the authority. Like, it's like you show up to work and you don't realize you're the boss. I I had a just a moment. Um, my husband and I, we had dated for over three years, got married, moved away. Um by a miracle, we were able to buy a house. And I mean, it's a miracle. I will tell you that story another time. Um, but we had decided uh that we could budget enough to paint some of the rooms in our house ourselves. It was a fixer-upper. Um, and so we did a road trip to my in-laws in Ohio, and the whole family was there. I have sister-in-laws who are interior designers and they're decorators, and they've been married for years and done multiple projects, and this was really my first house. Um my husband, he had owned a couple homes before me, but this is my first house. And so we're sitting in this table, and I had kind of come with my paint swatches, and I was excited to show everybody, and um everybody started giving me their opinions. Oh, well, you should do, oh, well, this is what's and um, if you know my husband, he in those settings, he he's probably already made up his mind, and he's just really doing this because he's being kind. Um, and he so he's sitting there just going with the flow, but I could tell he's watching me, and I'm like, well, maybe I'm being too opinionated. Like, I'll just go just relax. So I basically let everybody tell me what colors I should paint my house. And we got in the car. I I don't know where we were going, but we got in the car, um, and he looked at me and he was like, What was that? And I was like, What? What are you talking about? He said, Amy, this is our home. This is going to be our sanctuary. You are my wife. You, I wanted you to lead that conversation. I wanted to hear what you wanted. I wanted you to walk in the authority that this is our journey starting out as a married couple. What he was doing in that moment is he was calling me into the position and authority that God had just given me in becoming his wife. And he didn't want a servant in the home. He wanted a partner. He wanted us to be helpmates, and he he did not want anybody else's approval but ours. And in that moment, it was like, it was a fine conversation. We talked through it, I realized it. But I realized I was acting like a girlfriend. I was not acting like the wife that the Lord had just put me in that season. So many of us, it's a very casual example, but so many of us, we grow up in our family of origins, there's certain cultures, uh, we we maybe uh we're educated and we um develop these certain mindsets and perspectives and ways to operate because that's what's worked for us. It's maybe it's how you've survived, maybe it's how you have felt successful, and and so we we just are everybody's winging it in this life. And what he's saying here is we have you have to put off the old man when you come in Christ, and you have to put on the new man. But how do we live this out day in and day out? Because if we're not yielded to the work of the Spirit in our life, not just one time, not just when you acknowledge that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, but when we are yielded in our day-to-day life, there is no area of our lives that are meant to be off limits. But we live in a world that teaches us to compartmentalize our lives. When you, if you are a teacher and you teach at school, you are a teacher at school. And then when you go home, you are who you are at home. You might have a different, a different part of you might come out with friends. And so he's saying we have to put off the old and put on the new. I mean, it happens for non-believers, but it happens to believers because so many of us don't realize he wants to transform every single part of you. What what does this what does this look like? I'm just making sure I didn't miss my bullet points, guys. Um I d I'm moving on, but I do want to make something very clear, and I feel like this is um this is kind of a stronghold in the church sometimes. And I I say this very tenderly. Um there are those that do over-spiritualize something so much, they take one scripture, they don't study it, they don't understand the meaning of it. So here's a great example. Like, money is the root of all evil. Money, if you find your identity in money, if you find your value in money, if you find your value in uh your education, uh, if you find your value in um how beautiful you are. It is the root of all evil. But the Lord has given his body when we are one with the Lord, when we come into oneness and we are yielded, he has, he wants to actually explode and blossom all the gifts that he's given you. He has called some of you in this room, you have been scared to start a company or or just honestly be good anywhere because you're scared of what success might mean. Because you've hyper-spiritualized things. It's like, well, I don't want to, I don't want to fall away from my first love. No, as long as those things are not an idol in your life and you are only and first yielded to Jesus, he actually wants to take each and every tool that he's given you and he wants to excel it and expand it for his kingdom. We are called to build one another up in Christ. He's not like, I want to take, oh I my Lord, should I say? Okay, I'm gonna say that nicer. He does not, he's not like, I just want to hang out with all the victims. He doesn't see you as a victim. You are not a victim when you are one in Christ. Students, you are made for such a time as this, and the world is trying to bring confusion, and I'm telling you, you are fearfully and wonderfully made, just how you are. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to share this, but all morning I'm like, God, why are you running this? Why are you bringing me back here? Why are you bringing me back here? But I was taken back this morning when I was getting ready. Um, I I was I had triplets, I had three children, and when I was pregnant with my triplets, the very first thing when I was told that I was pregnant, um, the doctor wanted me to reduce. That's the term they used. And he kept pressuring me, telling me I wasn't gonna make it, telling me it was very dangerous for me. My husband told him he needed to be quiet. And um I we went to Chick fil A, where the fast food is holy. And um I we just said, we are gonna celebrate what God's given me. For now. Like, I felt so vulnerable. And I just got I'm kind of petite, Lord. And so I found myself in all these appointments at the high-risk doctor, and I got to have so many ultrasounds with these guys. I mean, I feel so lucky. But you guys, um, the kids like never switched positions, and um, they these appointments were like two hours long because they wanted to every time check everything. And what was so beautiful is I got to know each of my children before they even came out of the womb. So um, I'm not gonna say names because so many of you know them, but I bet you're gonna be able to guess. One was always in the same position, head down, feet up, gonna get it, like like going for the goal. And then the other was always like this peaceful, calm, steady. And then the other one was like this. And it was like, oh my word, they're so different, and it was so consistent every single time, and I could, I could, it was like the scriptures of like being fearfully and wonderfully made, he knows every hair on their head, and I literally got to peek into their personalities before they were born, and I will never forget it. I'm also gonna go somewhere else that's very, very tender, but I have trembled. There's a prophetic release this morning that the whole team has been feeling. And here's what's so fun about this is when Luke is gone, sometimes it's felt like this. It's felt hard, like, oh no. But this morning I actually don't feel that. So if I I'm going there, guys, okay. Um so during that time, I because I couldn't have children for so long, and just even conceiving them was a total miracle, they're my one and only pregnancy. I I start my heart for the unborn, like and then I started, I I became I started grieving over all the babies that had been aborted, and I wept and I wept, but then I started praying over all the women who felt like they had to do that, and I would have moments of anger, like you didn't have to do that. Like I know that because of my experience with the three, they're human. You cannot convince me otherwise. And so as I was wrestling this out with the Holy Spirit, and guys, I'm sharing this because this is a picture of being one with the spirit and letting the spirit work in me, okay? Be as I'm wrestling this out with the spirit, God gave me this picture of every single baby I felt like I was weeping over. And he was like, Amy, I got them. I'm not grieving over them anymore. Like they're mine, every single one. And then, and then I had this overwhelming peace and love and heart for every mom that might be wrestling out the termination of that potential child here on earth. And I just, my heart, I started just instead of being frustrated with them, I just started praying over them. Lord, meet them, God, give them the revelation that you have that child in heaven. Give them the revelation of eternity. We are not to live and interact with each other as the world does. What is so great about the kingdom of God is when we will practice abiding in the Spirit, that is the oneness that we're called to. He, the Holy Spirit, I do not know how he does it, but he does the transformings of our heart. That's in every argument, that's in every point of tension. If you will stop and say, Lord, I am not to live as the world does, but I am to put on the mind of Christ, and I yield every judgment, every piece of disappointment. I yield it to you, and I I give it to you, Jesus. Shape it. Help me. And here's what I've so my dad, I was talking to my dad about this. He's not here this morning because he's under the weather. Um, and my dad said this, which I was like, whoa. He was talking around oneness. He's like, Amy, when we will yield our lives to the Lord and we enter into oneness as we each do this in the body of Christ, then we become one. And so it's like if you start to think of all the scriptures, like we don't rate, rate, like do war as the world does. It's by the pulling down of prince and principalities. And so I guess this morning, really, my my one-point message is it's each of us have to take inventory. Are we fully yielded to the work of God in our life? And he is not playing games with you. He is a God of truth and clarity. Uh, I a youth group, uh Tiana, who has volunteered for years with the youth group, she was there and she she asked, uh, she asked a great question uh after I shared a little bit about something else. She said, How do you like when you don't have a clear leading, what do you do? And um I said, honestly, in a season of waiting, I pray and then I just ask the Lord, like, what am I practically supposed to build up in my life? Am I supposed to go back to work? Am I supposed to build a business? Am I supposed to volunteer at the church? And then whatever the Lord puts on my heart, I just do that. And I just trust whatever he's telling me to wait on, I just trust that the Lord is gonna come alongside. And he has done it every single day. Guys, it's this oneness is not a self-help formula. You can read a lot of self-help books, it is different. We are to learn as believers, we are to learn the nature of God, we are to learn his character. So, surprise, you guys can put up the character of God list slash slide. There you go, Luke. I can do it too. Actually, guys, I'm the worst. This is a miracle that I know it's not that fancy, but take a picture of this just in the book of Ephesians. Um, his nature is sovereign, powerful, rich in mercy. He is the source of peace. He is perfect in his wisdom, he is holy and blameless in his actions. He is our father of glory, he's the giver of grace, he's the master planner, he's the sealer and the guaranteer, he's the rewarder. Some of you this morning may have been mixing your identity in Christ and then old identities that were given to you. Some of you feel like, uh, well, my parents said I was gonna be this, so I have to be this, but maybe you have found God and you're feeling pulled in a totally different direction, but you feel like, oh my goodness, if I do not, if I I can't do it all, and the Lord is saying, you can trust him, you step into what he's called you to, and God will deal with your family. You might need to give them some time. Um, but this is what the Lord, you can throw the next slide up. Just in the book of Ephesians, we have the whole Bible, but these are just a couple things. If you're struggling to know who God says you are, it says, This is our position as believers. We are saints, adopted, we are his workmanship. You are redeemed, and it has been sealed. Some of you are living out your walk with the Lord like it's not sealed, like you're still trying to gain approval. And it's that striving that is keeping you from entering into the fullness of his joy. This is our role as the body. We're the body, the temple, the bride, children of light, and soldiers. So uh something I practice when I'm feeling in gridlock is I will literally make a list of what I'm feeling. Like, I I I feel like I'm a failure as a mom, or I feel like I don't have discipline. And then I'll sit with the Lord, maybe talk to him. Sometimes I go for a walk, clean, put worship music on, and then I wait. It's like I just wait and I'm like, Lord, what do you say? And it's like he will give me the deposits of the truth, and then I write that down. Um, it's very practical, but it's amazing how the Holy Spirit will show up. Worship team, I'm gonna have you come in ministry team as well. When you feel condemned, the scripture says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. When you feel weak, the scripture says, my grace is sufficient for you. When you feel defeated, the scripture says you are more than conquerors. Your minds begin to change when you agree with what God says about you. Here's why it's really important to seek the Lord on what he says about you. A, when you know what you're made for, you can walk. It's much easier to walk it out. We live in a culture that now idolizes individualism. But your life is not your own. Your heavenly father created you. You're his. Maybe you are just learning about Jesus through this series. Maybe you've never been very spiritual. Or maybe you've been very spiritual, but just not with Jesus. Your next, but God's saying your next step is to say yes to Him. Say, Jesus, I want to do it your way. I want to be in Christ. I want to receive your love for the first time. I want to have freedom and the capacity to love like Christ loves me. Maybe you've been caught in disappointment and anger has taken a hold. And there's a stronghold, as the scripture says. Maybe you've been caught in pornography, or you're in an emotional affair because your marriage just isn't satisfied. Maybe you're angry at your parents, and you just don't know how to forgive them. And the Lord is saying, if you don't, if you won't surrender that to me, the feeling of stuckness is not gonna go away. And this morning, I believe, is the morning you can forgive. It does not define you. God wants to bring freedom to you. God is calling you to repent this morning of cursing and judging others. He wants to impart his heart for others to you. I believe that this is something that you've actually struggled with. And maybe in general with people you're great, but you've been hurt with church leaders. You've been hurt maybe by men or mothers or fathers or bosses. And it can even be a justified angst. But the Lord is saying, no more. It's a stronghold. Trust me. I'm trustworthy. And guys, he's so trustworthy. Man, I had a season where I felt so betrayed. I felt so alone. I felt so misunderstood. I've and I would drive around in my car and I would just worship and worship, and the spirit would come and be like, let that go. Let it go. Give it to me. And it was like freedom would come all by myself. So good. Let it go. Lord, we repent because correction leads us to restoration. That's what your word says. So this morning, I'm gonna close with this prayer. Father, we take a firm grip with our shaky hands and we mark a straight path, Lord, not in our own strength, but by your spirit, says the Lord. God, I thank you to renew our minds through the Spirit. I thank you that as soon as we realize there's something unclean, hardened, or perverse, or a false identity in our lives, I thank you that in the moment that that comes to us, that we could joyfully surrender it to you, God. And it's yes, Lord, what do you want to do? Hmm. Jesus. Jesus, thank you, Lord. Jesus' name, amen. I'll be on the sides as well to pray for anybody. But guys, let's just worship. And I just would encourage you to yield anything that the Lord might want to bring to your minds this morning, and he wants to replace it with his truth. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 42:48

Amen. Can you say amen to that? Nothing is better than Jesus. Also, could you give me a hand thanking these two? And Amy, wherever she went, she's over there praying. Thank you for being here. Um, before we head out, I just want to leave you with one last thought to start your week. Every intention of the Father towards you is good. Can you believe that? Every intention. Sometimes it's hard for us to get our heads around because our circumstances don't really line up with that. But that's where our faith starts is trusting in that, even when we can't see it. So let's start our week believing in the goodness of God. Lord, I pray for all each one that you would bless and keep them, that you would made your face shine upon them and give them peace, that you would lift up their countenance to them and give them rest in Jesus' name. Have a great week. Love you.